Colusa hospital deal isn’t dead, after all

on a tour of the facility on Wednesday afternoon – said they would work together to open the hospital by later summer or early fall.

There’s been some confusion over the status of the Colusa hospital – even among those who are closest to the project.

According to a press release issued Tuesday by the county, a representative of American Specialty HealthCare – the corporation lined up to revitalize the hospital – informed the county it was pulling out of the deal effective immediately. But representatives of American Specialty now say they have no intention of abandoning the project.

Colusa County Counsel Marcos Kropf said he sent the press

release because Dr. Gurpreet Singh, the board chairman for American Specialty, told Colusa County supervisors he would not continue to support the hospital project unless the county immediately signed over the property to him at no charge.

The county was open to discussing the property’s ownership after the hospital officially opened, but it couldn’t legally transfer it in a short amount of time, Kropf said.

“There’s a huge process the county would have to go through before we sell or transfer property,” Kropf said. “Certainly, once they’re up and running, if they want to discuss it, that’s their right. Until we have an operational hospital, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Singh did not return calls for comment. But Gia Smith, chief executive officer of Central Valley Specialty Hospital, a subsidiary of American Health, said there was a miscommunication between the county and Dr. Singh.

“We never had any intentions to discontinue the project,” Smith

said. “Dr. Singh had a discussion with the board, and we feel that those discussions were misinterpreted because of the passion he has for the project and community. We’re committed to opening that hospital because we know the residents deserve to have healthcare in their community.”

Kropf didn’t agree with American Health’s assessment of the situation and maintained the county’s version of events.

“It wasn’t taken out of context. He specifically told us he was withdrawing from the project, and he would have all equipment out in two weeks,” Kropf said. “Maybe they’re changing their tune, but there was no ‘out of context.’ The county is more than happy to work with American Specialty, but I think we need to be clear we were told they were withdrawing.”

In response to the incident, American Specialty hired Colusa attorney Tedd Mehr as its media spokesperson. Mehr will also serve as a mediator between American Specialty and Colusa County.

“They’re going forward with this project, and we have some issues to work out with the county, but they’re dedicated to the project,” Mehr said. “Sometimes in the heat

of a conversation things can be said that shouldn’t be. I’m not going to make excuses for what was said. I wasn’t there, but it doesn’t matter what was said. We’re going forward.”

The county is still willing to consider continuing the partnership with American Health, Kropf said.

On Wednesday evening, American Health offered local media outlets a tour of the Colusa Medical Center campus to showcase all of the work that’s gone into the hospital so far.

While much has been done to the hospital’s infrastructure already, further improvements will need to be made before the hospital sets an official opening date.

“They keep finding more and more stuff that needs to be done,” Mehr said. “It’s going to be open when they can get it open.”

The health care company signed a 30-year lease with the county to operate the Colusa Medical Center last November, not long after the hospital closed its doors.

Some of the employees hired during the April job fair at the Colusa Fairgrounds are being trained on the hospital’s premises, Mehr said. But most employees won’t start until the hospital opens.

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